Previous methods for transporting customer configuration and stability information were prone to breaches of system security, cumbersome and either too costly in terms of processor utilization or not current. A means was necessary to provide a mechanism whereas data could be swiftly retrieved from a known public location into an internal, secure system-operating environment in a regular and timely manner, without using excessive amounts of the processor.
The general purpose of the software methodology described herein is to systematically check for and retrieve data from a known, public system to a system inside company firewall restraints. This data is processed and stored into an internal database for the express purpose of allowing timely access to stability and configuration information, for field engineers or managers within the company. The method is able to function virtually unattended once initial set up is complete. This methodology is part of a system designated as the Availability Monitor System.
One prior art method to which the method of the present invention generally relates is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,647 entitled “Self Configuring Peer To Peer Inter Process Messaging System”. This prior art method provides remote program execution, data transport, message communication, status communication and relocation of computer resources by using an arbiter associated with each computer. An originating arbiter of a process resource sends messages between arbiters that are received by each arbiter and then sent to a destination arbiter, if required. If necessary, the message may be retransmitted by intermediate arbiters and eventually received by the destination arbiter, which interprets, and executes the message. As a result, the arbiters provide actual communication between the resources. Each arbiter may be resident in each of a plurality of computers, which are part of a network linked by a network. Each arbiter independently reviews and processes the messages so that the computers communicate directly with each other on a peer to peer basis without the need for a master controlling program or other gateway for controlling and processing the messages as the messages are transmitted between computers.
The present invention differs from the above prior cited art in that the prior invention focuses on self-configuring or remote program execution. The method of the present invention retrieves files from a public location and processes them within a secure environment, which is not related to the method of the prior art.
Yet another prior art method to which the method of the present invention generally relates is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,584 entitled “System And Method For Retrieving Entities And Integrating Data.” This prior art method is a data integration system and method which gathers information dynamically from one or more data sources, which may be located at different servers and have incompatible formats, then structures the information into a configurable, object-oriented information model, and outputs the information for the user according to an associated, configurable visual representation with automatic content classification.
The present invention differs from this prior art in that the cited prior art deals with integrating data. This is in no way related to the method of the present invention, which is to retrieves files collected in known public locations for processing at a secure central site. The data in these files is then used to update a central database.
Yet another prior art method to which the method of the present invention generally relates is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,699 entitled “Interactive Display System For Sequential Retrieval And Display Of A Plurality Of Interrelated Data Sets”. This prior art method is a method, system and program product for monitoring, from a client computer system, the performance of an application program residing on a server computer system. A probe program residing at the client computer generates requests for the services of the application program and records transaction records based upon service responses from there. The requests and transaction record generation is controlled by a set of probe configuration information units at the client computer. Transaction records are provided to a central repository whereat statistical information is pre-processed and inserted into statistics tables. A display system enables a computer user to interactively request and view a plurality of displays of data sets of the monitoring data. Each data set includes data elements, which may be interactively indicated by the viewer to cause the retrieval and display of related data sets having data elements associated with those in the original display.
The present invention differs from this prior art in that this referenced prior art deals with interactive displays. This prior art method does not teach the method of the present invention of updating a central database with data contained in files sent from a myriad of sites through a firewall.
Yet another prior art method to which the method of the present invention generally relates is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,392 entitled “Data Retrieval Method And Apparatus With Multiple Source Capability”. This prior art method involves a generation of output or reports on information contained in a data source which may be any of two or more types of source data, in a standardized or uniform manner. A plurality of drivers are provided specific to different types of source data which include programming for identifying structural or other characteristics of the various data sources, e.g. for use in defining a new database. Preferably the new database is configured to permit highly flexible and/or rapid output or reporting or is otherwise optimized for reporting purposes. In one embodiment, this prior invention includes conversion of one or more data sources into one or more uniform databases, preferably generating one or more key categories for organizing the data, optionally generating category groupings or rollups and additional data or optional references. In one embodiment, one or more databases are created which have a degree of uniformity of structure, even though they may be based on two or more different data sources, which may have very different structures. The different data sources are automatically analyzed and this analysis can be used to identify and/or create categories of data for use in organizing the data.
The present invention differs from this prior art in that the referenced prior art teaches the actual structure of the database, whereas the method of the present invention teaches how specialized files can be organized in a database for ease of evaluation of partitions and service processors. This prior art is unrelated to the present inventions method of using a database to store data that has been retrieved from customer sites.
Yet another prior art method to which the method of the present invention generally relates is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,030 entitled “Multitask Subscription Data Retrieval System”. This prior art method is a multitask multi-user system which provides for efficient transfer of data from a remote data base to individual subscribers and has particular utility in the distribution of stock market data. A primary provider distributes the incoming data directly to user tasks or to an inquiry provider or a monitor provider. The inquiry provider responds to specific inquiries by users for information in the database. The monitor provider maintains lists of information, which are being monitored by the host computer for individual users. The inquiry provider and the monitor provider do not repeat requests to the remote database where a similar request is already pending from another user. Data transfer paths between tasks are established by a code module, which may be linked to any of the tasks. The transfer paths are established using information from a configuration list and they are monitored by the operating system through a wait list established for each user task. Providers in the system may establish subscriber lists through the code module.
The present invention differs from this prior art in that the method of the present invention does not relate to multi-tasking or a multi-user system, as does the cited prior art. The prior art method is unrelated to the present method, which is intended for one central secure engineering site to retrieve files from multiple customer sites for subsequent evaluation.